Amoroso Cos. wants to build 123-unit resi project in Mid-City

Amoroso Companies is looking to build a mixed-use project with 123 residential units, to rise on the north side of Mid-City over what is now a vacant shopping center.

The new building from the Calabasas-based investor would total 98,000 square feet of residential space and 4,200 square feet of ground floor retail, according to public records. According to plans that were filed this week, 13 of those residential units would be set aside as affordable. But the filing does not specify what level of affordability they will be. Parking will be underground.

The filing covers a 25,800-square-foot area that includes five lots on West Pico Boulevard, between Hi Point and South Point View streets.

It calls for the demolition of a mostly vacant 12,000-square-foot shopping center and parking lot. The site has a dozen addresses between 5935-5953 W. Pico Boulevard. L.A. has seen an increasing number of underperforming or empty shopping centers undergo conversions.

Amoroso Companies paid $10.4 million for the property in late October from Culver City-based CGC Investment Group LLC, with a $7 million mortgage from Comerica. The deal came out to around $879 per square foot. Development consultant Burns & Bouchard filed the plans on behalf of Amoroso.

The project is in line with many of Amoroso’s other projects in the city. Less than a mile away on South La Cienega Boulevard, the firm is developing a 90-unit project with a similar percentage of affordable units. Further west on West Pico Boulevard, Amoroso is building a 100-unit mixed-use project near Santa Monica Airport.